Sponsored children are very grateful and consider themselves blessed to have sponsors who love them and write to them. The children are touched by the affection you express to them in your letters and the prayers you share with them.

They like when you pray for them and ask them to pray for you in return.

They love when you express your love for them and declare a blessing on their lives. And when you encourage them to study hard.

Most of the children are curious to know more about your lives, families and studies, if you are pursuing any, and also hope to one day meet you face to face. General topics the children like to know about also include religion and the general lifestyle of the western world.

The children of Rwanda are filled with glee when they share about the letters they receive from you.

“I like that my sponsor is still writing to me and that he and everybody else is fine. I always hear terrible international news and I am so relieved to hear from my sponsor and to know that he is OK.” — Kwizera

“I like how my sponsor sees me, his attitude and feelings towards me, his encouraging comments all the time. I like that he receives my letters, responds to my questions, and prays for my prayer requests. I really appreciate my sponsor and his family.” — Dieudonne

“I love when she writes ‘God be with you and your family’ and when she tells me she is praying for me. I thank her so much for this!” — Uwambajimana

“I like it when my sponsor wishes me the best in my studies and when she prays for me.” — Umurerwa

“I like it when my sponsor tells me how her children are doing in school; it encourages me to work hard not to let her down.” — Irabizi

“I love how my sponsor feels about me. I like that he loves me.” — Bagambiki

Love this! Now that my child is a teen, I’m going to start asking her what she’s interested in studying when she gets older, what she wants to do with her future. That way I can continue encouraging her, only now I can start encouraging her to follow her dreams and God’s will for her.

The words of the children really touch my heart! I am so honored to be a sponsor, and I pray that I will be able to encouragement and help to her. I so appreciate all of the hard work all of the Compassion staff do for these little ones across the globe. You all are in my prayers, too!

this is a great reminder that even the simplest things we can say to them, they really appreciate. Sometimes i feel repetitive always saying that I am praying for them, but it’s probably good for them to hear it again so they know that it is true

Thank you for sharing. I’ve had letters form my kids that have brought tears to my eyes. It’s great to hear about what our children want to know about. Reading that my children pray for me still humbles me, when I look at the vast wealth that I am surrounded by – not wealth by North American standards but certainly by the standards of the poorer countries.

I love writing to my kids both sponsored and correspondent, I look forward to their letters that make me feel so good!. I like it when they say that they are praying for me and my family and also when they tell me that my encouragement helps them stay in school,etc. One of my older boys sent a very encouraging letter when my husband had a long illness and it was full of how God is here with me and that everything will be alright and he and his famly were praying for us. My husband recovered and he treasures that letter. They include me in their everyday activities through the letters. Whenever I get a new child, I always welcome them to our family in my first letter and that I am happy to be their sponsor. Most of our kids answer my questions and I try to answer theirs. All in all I get such joy out of writing to them and my husband says I am like a kid at Christmas when we get their letters.

I found this blog area today and hope to participate more in the future. I made the commitment to visit my child on the next Rwanda trip in April/May 2011. I just wrote him a letter to let him know that I plan on coming to meet him. He will be 18 this year so he really already is a man. Compassion told me that they can continue in the program until they are 22.

Great reminder on the importance of letter writing!! If anyone is looking for letter-writing inspiration, feel free to stop by my blog. Many of my posts are about writing letters for our Compassion kids and I hope that I can help sponsors deepen that bond between themselves and their child. Click on my name in blue to check it out.

Wow, I love this post! It just sums up the whole reason for sponsoring in the first place: to share the love of Christ and give children in poverty-stricken areas hope. Couldn’t you feel that hope springing to life in each of their responses?! It brought tears to my eyes, and inspired me all the more!

Wow! Such an humbling reminder! Would we be so excited about just a simple piece of paper with words on it? Lord, teach us to be more content and put our all ino this childs future! We have no idea how we are affecting them! Give us eyes to see!

This is good.Most thing is hearing the cry of our children in need of support.In Rwanda,Western province, they are many children who do need your light of life,some of them abandoned school and they are in the street,others are in critical situation.I continue to pray for them ,one time,they could hear the voice of God inviting them to a nice place. God bless you.

Boniface: Thank you for your comment. I just signed up to sponsor a child from Rwanda and your insights will help me a lot as I write my first letter to her. I will keep you and the people of your country in my prayers. Your English is very good, by the way! God bless you, too!

Thanks for this great and encouraging post! I’m not the best correspondent with my sponsored child, and one of my resolutions this year is to do better – I just wrote her a letter this morning and this post gave me great ideas to help encourage her. Many thanks, and God’s love and blessings be with you.

I am making a resolve to write to my sponsored children more often. I wrote to all 5 of them yesterday (and sent a gift to the one who has a birthday in July) and afterwards I felt so uplifted, as I always do when I write to them. In the past I have allowed myself to “put it off” until a more convenient time, but no more. It takes so little effort, and impact the letter could have in the child’s life, we can’t measure. It may be just the thing that will get them through that day in a favorable way. To all of us sponsors, Let’s “just do it!”